German East Asia

German East Asia, also called German Guangdong, was a colony of the German Empire in China from 1893 until it was captured in 1917 during World War I.

History
The Guangdong province of China was invaded by the recently-unified Germany in 1892, when the young empire was in the process of expanding. As the other Great Powers, such as France, Russia, and Great Britain all possessed a lot of influence in China, Germany sought to take a territory there with force. In the later months of 1892, two German corps entered the Qing dynasty from nearby Dai Nam–a German protectorate at the time–and occupied southern China. The Qing government, unable to effectively resist, gave in and surrendered the Guangdong province and Hainan Island to Germany as a concession.

The area served as a base for Germany's East Asia Squadron and also was a source of labor. When World War I began in 1914, Japan initially tried to occupy it but failed to the sizable German presence, but when the Republic of China declared war in 1917 its army quickly liberated Guangdong and put an end to the German colonial regime.